Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-05-27
THE LADIES'.
Two Columns Of Reading Pre-
pared Especially for Our
Feminine Readers.
ACCOMPLISHED MRS. WHITNEY
Women's Work, Women's Wrongs, and
Women's Rights-something Anent
the Fashions. f&G
Womon's Wrongs.

s~S'0> NAAOAASAA@J JON~NHAS~.1
modern day book, that you are not treated
to dissertation, more or less mild, on
"woman's work"
All that women are now allowed to exist
for is to work to agitate, to be ratified
around in the dice-box of social progress.
Her worth is punctiliously computed and
her right to be around measured BY her
capability for work, and her versatility in
it. In our grandmother days, to be sure,
girl was not worth much if she could not
work her samples and make good butter.
The dear old things, then giddy young
things, framed their bits of embroidery,
suspended them on tho wall over spindle
legged chairs or tables with brass, lion
sparkling with old-fashioned rings, over
their starched bodices, and complacently
awaited an appreciative sutton who was to
carry them of, where their ecstatic bliss
fitness would consist in making the afore-
mentioned good butter.
The ethical principle is the same to-day,
but the field has been wldened, and the du-
ties more onerous. II woman does not
wish to sink into utter oblivion, she must
do something and be somebody in the great
rushing outside world.
Of course, if, as We contend, this is q
misfortune, it is all her own fault, all her
own doing. For the last generation women
have been crying for their rights"
Her rights to what?
Her right to work, to toll, to assume re-
sponsibility, to take care of herself, to
worry and plan for others; in other words,
her right to have good hard time of it.
She has been wanting, in sadly illogical
while all the time, if she had only kept
quiet, never told them differently, nobody
would ever have suspicioned anything but
the fact that she is away above them.
However, she was sure she was entangled
in restraining web of domesticity, and
never rested until the revolution was at
least commenced. Equal work, equal
wages, she must have, and she may now
have the liberty of serving the selfish pub
lie instead of the inmates of her home.
The world of to-day is as much the
woman's oyster as the mans, and her wit,
her skill, her finesse, her audacity, and her
adaptability, are assuredly acknowledged.
She completes with men in every known
industry; she may prescribe pills and plas-
tors; she may teach theology and philoso-
ply, and she may settle disputes in the TO-
runs of justice. The world of work is al
her feet. She certainly attained what sue
cried for.
One man says: ga characteristic feature
of the progress of the century is the en-.
largement of spheres of usefulness fol
women. A multiplicity of feminine occu.
pations renders independence delightful
possibility for all" Another one: "This il
living, breathing, qc0rking world, anc
woman has made up her mind to do hel
part in it. Within the next generation the
great body Of women will be pursuing oc.
equations side by side with the great bod,
of men. 1t is only the few, as yet, WHIT
labor; then it will be the great majority.
The women, in their blind, go-ahead way
have brought about in men this lack Of rec
ognition to the claims that exist in theil
homes.
These men may hardly realize it, bu
their children are brought into the world
and too often taught with their first lisp Il
be independent, which means one less TO
the father to care for, and too often ON
less to care for the father.
Their wives are allowed to add some
thing to the income, which means the los
exclusive homekeeper can supply.
The wives do this with the utmost gooc
faith, with an unselishness, often, that il
thoroughly womanly, yet it is the creates
mistake o young woman can possibl,
make.
Men are entirely the creatures of habit
and once they learn to rely upon certail
amount of help coming from that source
they never cease to expect it, and sick o
well, tired or not, old or young, they viii
fail to see any reason why it should no
continue as it was begun.
1t requires some moral courage to be 81
old-fashioned us to believe that if mer
realized their privileges, there would b
but few women working to-day outside o
sheltered homes.
But perhaps We had better stop or W
shall say something we will be sorry fol-
but we can not but long for the old day
when Sappho and Hypatia were instance
of woman's enterprise, that their unhapp
fates might serve as warnings rather tina;
models to initiate.